Conversation Between Plants
by Alyson Metallium
Summary: Whatever he had been expecting, and Vash, of all people, knew better than to expect anything but the unexpected, it hadn't been the tall, leggy blond that came into view on the other side of the bars. Vash, Chronica, a few questions, a few answers and some hope tossed in. Manga based one-shot


A/N: Is this . . . is it really . . . YES, IT'S A TRIGUN FIC BY YOURS TRULY! Cue the shocked gasping and threats of dying of heart attacks, cuz I know I almost did when I sat down and started typing. This is based right after the manga ends (yep, I just feel too much was left wide open and unresolved) and is very much a one shot. Which was HARD, because I kept thinking about how I wanted to go further, but decided to leave it as is. If anyone else wants to pick up where I leave off and expand, by all means, just let me know so I can follow your story.

Vash sighed heavily and slumped on the bench, his hands dangling between his knees. It was useless to take any notice of his surroundings; he had been in several jail cells over his long years and they were all generally the same. Four blank walls, a bench for sitting or sleeping, a toilet in the corner with a sink, a barred window if he were lucky and, of course, the barred wall that held the door.

He figured it would only be a matter of time before the Earth Federation Peace Force would catch him, but he had hoped it would have taken them longer than a mere 24 hours after they found him at the old church. He supposed he should be grateful that it was the Earth Forces that had caught him and not the hundreds of bounty hunters that had converged on the place, as well. It meant that he had been locked up as opposed to, well, dead with his head mounted on someone's wall, but at the moment it was little consolation. He wanted to be out in the open running across the desert with Meryl and Millie chasing after him, those ridiculous microphones peeking out from Meryl's cape.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose and flushed slightly when the memory of their kiss fist bump rose in his mind, but he resolutely turned away from it because it had happened before the most horrible moment in his life has occurred. Still, he would be stupid if he ignored just how much she meant to him. It _had_ been her voice that had literally called him back from the grave, he just didn't know if it would be fair to _her_ to tell her his feelings. For one thing, there was the whole "different species" issue to contend with, and for another, well, at best he would describe himself as "damaged goods", and that wasn't just the state of his body.

Still, she had been extremely vehement about how ladies wouldn't run away from his scars when he had half jokingly said as much, and he could only suppose that she had been talking about herself. While he had played dumb, he hadn't been completely unaware of some of the looks she had graced him with, plus Millie's teasing comments about them needing a chaperone hadn't been all that subtle, either. But even if Meryl were fully prepared to take him in all of his physically scarred glory, it was his mind that he freely acknowledged was the most traumatized. He had very few good memories, and his most recent ones ranged from horrifying to downright nightmarish and everything else in between.

He had to be honest, since he had already decided to face some of his demons, and admit that Meryl had pretty much seen him at his worst, his best, his most vulnerable, his most terrifying . . . . You could only be blind to so much when you followed a person around 24/7, and she had held up surprisingly well, minus the incident when he crushed her with his Angel Arm and she had been catapulted unwillingly into his memories. But she had worked hard to over come that fear during the battle with Knives. It still amazed him that she could pack so much courage into her small frame. She really put most men to shame in that regards, and Vash smirked a little at the thought of her giving lessons in bravery to some of the bounty hunters he had run into over the years.

The sound of a door opening at the end of the hallway caught his attention, and he could vaguely hear Meryl's raised voice as she yelled at someone a little further away. His smirk grew at the thought of her going head to head with one of the Federation's Generals, and wished he were there to witness it. If anyone knew how to give hell to another human being, it was Meryl Stryfe.

The door closed and Meryl's voice vanished behind its bulk again, but he cocked his head to the side curiously at the unexpected sound of footsteps as they approached his holding pen. He knew there was no way the Federation would let some random person into the jail where he was being held; he was considered far too dangerous and too important as far as information on Knives and the Ark were concerned, so whoever approached him now had to have some in with the military.

Whatever he had been expecting, and Vash, of all people, knew better than to expect anything but the unexpected, it hadn't been the tall, leggy blond that came into view on the other side of the bars. His jaw actually dropped as he openly stared, taken back as much by her beauty as he was by the cool poise with which she regarded him. He quickly snapped out of his stupor and immediately went into "Idiot Lecher" mode.

"Well, hello there," he said with a flirty smile, one hand raised to stroke his chin in what he liked to think of as a seductive move to bring attention to what he considered to be his best feature. "What's a beauty like you doing in a place like this?"

Her expression didn't change as she continued to regard him with cold aloofness, and he dropped the smirk and rubbed the back of his neck self consciously, an abashed expression on his face.

"Here to see the Legendary Gunman? If I'd known someone was gorgeous as you were around, I would have come out of hiding much quicker," he said and winked.

"Cut the act, Vash the Stampede," she said so coldly that Vash shuddered slightly. Her voice was husky and low, but carried a strong core of steel that screamed "high ranking official that was used to giving orders" loud and clear.

"Um, ok?"

"I want to know where Millions Knives is," she said, and her eyes hardened in a way that Vash recognized easily. She was after vegence.

"He's gone," he said flatly, and her eyes narrowed. What happened next took him by surprise. A small tickle at the back of his head alerted him that someone was trying to enter his mind, and he was shocked when he realized the tentative mental thread was coming from the woman in front of him. He immediately slammed his mental shields shut, gratified when her cold expression cracked a bit and she rocked back on her heels. She obviously thought she was being subtle enough that he wouldn't have been able to pick up on what she had been doing, but he hadn't been Knives brother for so long without learning a few tricks to keep unwanteds out of his head. He grimaced slightly when he flashed back to the time Meryl had been dragged into his memories against her will, but that had been an accident and he hadn't been in any form of control over what was going on.

"Tsk tsk," he said and wagged a finger at her. "It's not polite to try and invade someone else's mind before you've even introduced yourself. How were you able to do that, are you like Legato?"

"Not hardly," the woman scoffed, and her lip curled in disgust. "My name is Chronica and I'm an Independent Combat Pilot in the Earth Federation Military."

"Independent?" Vash asked, curious and Chronica's eyebrows furrowed.

"Independent Plant like you," she said testily, then blinked when Vash erupted off the bench and grabbed the bars in front of her. He stared through them, aqua eyes wide.

"Really? You're like me?!" he demanded as he stared at her, disbelief and hope at finally getting _answers_ warring within him. Her eyes widened and she took a small step backwards at his vehemence, and he tried to school his features back into a semblance of calm, but some of his desperation must have still shown through because she looked thoughtful.

"You didn't know, did you," she asked, though the way she worded it made it sound more like a statement than question.

"No, when would I have been able to find out?" Vash asked, exasperated. "I was kind of busy with the major battle when you guys showed up. There really are more like me?" _And Knives_ was left unsaid, but understood.

"There are other Independents, yes," she said after a pause that had Vash wondering if she had planned to answer at all. "Most are part of the Federation Forces across the galaxy, but there are some that work in other areas alongside the humans."

"How is it we . .," Vash trailed off and waved a hand, at a loss as to how word his question.

"It's not fully known how Independents became, but it is a fact that humans created Plants. It would only be logical that a biohumanoid would eventually develop its own consciousness separate from the whole, and from that one individual it's theorized that the first Independent was created."

Vash stared at her, his mind swirling with questions upon questions, and Chronica must have picked up on one of them because she told him about the research that had been done with Independents and ways to help them control their power, which had the added effect of preventing the hair blackening phenomenon that marked their life spans.

"Really? You can, you can control, you can stop . . .," he petered off again, but Chronica seemed to understand as her eyes softened slightly.

"Yes, my generation was wired with Cranial Nerve Block Programming. Others simply call it limiters since that's a bit of a mouthful. It helps us regulate our inadvertent destructive abilities," she said softly, and something inside Vash gave way as tears filled his eyes and slipped down his cheeks. Chronica blinked at him, but he didn't care what her thoughts were as he ran his fingers through his bristled hair and walked back to the bench with a deep sigh. He leaned his elbows on his knees and bent forward, his face hidden in his hands as his shoulder shook.

"Do you have the limiters with you?" he asked, his voice cracking a little as he fought to regain control. "Can you prevent me from causing another July?"

"That's one reason why the Federation wanted you," she said, and his head jerked up. "They wanted information about Millions Knives and the Ark, information that only you can give now that you say he is gone, but also to install the limiters so that you would have more control over your Gate and to prevent you from using up all of your power in the next six months."

He watched her eyes dart off to his right, and he knew she was looking at the small shock of blond hair that he had left, a very visible reminder that he wasn't immortal the way Knives had always claimed them to be. Which brought around another question.

"Why do you need information about what happened? You were there," he said, reluctant to talk about the painful day, but also feeling like he owed her something for giving him hope that if he was going to have to continue on this planet, he wouldn't be a major danger anymore.

"We have information and data on fused entities that we've dealt with before, but nothing on the scale of what Millions Knives accomplished. The ability to fuse so many of our sisters, the energy he was able to pull from them to instantly teleport, his ultimate plan, we don't know any of that. We do know that he knew of our plans of attack because he absorbed my sister and fellow combat pilot, Domina, but otherwise, we're in unknown territory."

Her voice didn't change as she said the name, but Vash had been watching her eyes closely and he saw a tear slip down her cheek. She quickly swiped it away and took a deep breath, but the tentative connection that had been made between them when she answered his unspoken question allowed him to sense the painful emotions that swirled just beneath the surface of her perfectly composed façade.

"It's inadequate, but I'm sorry," he said softly, and she sighed. "Knives truly is gone, though. The family I was staying with didn't tell me details, but I haven't had any connection with Knives since I woke up, and they have an apple tree that's extremely healthy for their location that feels like it has some of Knives energy in it. By the time I lost consciousness, Knives hair had turned completely black." Vash swallowed his emotions down and plowed on, determined to get out what he didn't want to talk about. "I don't know how he was able to do what he did with our sisters, I was too busy trying to stop him. But he wanted to destroy humans."

"Why?" Chronica asked, and that simple question had Vash bending over and placing his face in his hands again. He didn't want to vocalize it; to speak of it would give the incident power again, so instead he sent out a tentative mental thread, a gentle knocking request for a stronger connection. He felt her surprise, and then she allowed the thread to lock in and Vash showed her the memory of the SEEDS ship and Tessla. He felt and saw Chronica rear back in surprised horror, but she quickly regained control and schooled her features once again.

_It's to be expected,_ she said, her mental voice giving weight to the brokenhearted emotions, _but not excused and those scientists never forgiven. If they had truly been out in space as long as your memory suggests, then they lost contact with Earth long before Tessla's birth, and would not have been aware of the existence of Independents. Humans always have feared the unknown, but that doesn't give them a right to do what they did to her. _

_You're quick to forgive the humans, but I can still feel a deep, burning hatred for Knives, _Vash commented quietly, and was taken aback by the surge of rage that followed.

_What Knives did, fusing our sisters that share a collective consciousness was disgusting. But fusing Domina, an Independent with her own sense of self and personality, and destroying her individuality is unforgivable. He killed her as good as if he had shot her through the head. He destroyed her mind, the very core of her persona._

Vash sucked in a breath and let it out on a sigh. Knives had done horrible things, had killed so many, had destroyed Rem_, _but somehow the knowledge that he had completely demolished the mind of someone like them still came as a horrific shock. Vash had thought Knives had been unaware of the Independents the way he had been, but what Chronica said proved that to not be the case and a deep, aching sadness welled inside at the thought that Knives had been so far gone that he had attacked and basically killed his own sister.

_What he did makes him no better than the humans that dissected Tessla,_ Chronica's harsh emotions made her mental voice brittle.

_I know, _Vash said sadly, and tried to distract himself by thinking of something else from their mental conversation. His mind immediately latched onto an image of Meryl when he thought back about how right she was about humans fearing the unknown. But Meryl had fought to conquer that fear, and though she wasn't 100% successful, her very actions and her desire to stay by his side even if it meant chasing him across the desert, spoke far more than anything she could possibly say to him verbally.

A sound of amusement from the Independent in front of him caused him to meet her amused eyes. He quirked an eyebrow at her and sent a mental question mark.

"That young lady was giving the General quite the dressing down when I arrived. Something about how 'the bounty needed to be lifted so you could continue to forge ties of peace between humans and the Plants' or something along those lines." Vash had started to smile when she continued, and he deflated faster than a popped balloon. "She also said you were irresponsible, a total flake, a major dreamer, a flirt, and couldn't hold your liquor worth a damn."

"That's unfair!" he cried out, determined to correct the slander. "I won that drinking contest fair and square, and she knows it!"

Chronica stared at him, and then her shoulders started to shake with soft laughter. Vash smiled, pleased to have gotten some reaction out of the stoic Independent.

"You should smile more often," he said gently. "It looks good on you."

"Hmmm. Well, my time here is almost up. Your release is contingent on whether or not you're willing to undergo the Cranial Nerve Blocking procedure, but I'm guessing you're willing based on your interest earlier."

"I am," Vash said. "As long as I'm awake during the procedure."

"You can't be serious," she said, shocked. "It's a very lengthy, painful process, especially since you're older. Most Independents are deliberately created with the Programming in place, performing the procedure on you is a step into the unknown for us, as well."

"I understand, but I don't trust you to not try and dispatch me while I'm under," he said bluntly. "I can handle pain, I have to be awake when my arm is being installed because we have to make sure the nerves are attached properly. It's not fun, but I can deal."

"I don't suppose it would change your mind to know that I will be there through the entire procedure to ensure that nothing like that happens?"

He shook his head and she frowned but eventually sighed in defeat.

"Very well, I shall pass the info along to those that will be performing the surgery."

"Wait, how is it that you have limiters with you? Do you usually carry them on rescue missions?" he asked, curious.

"We've run into rogue Independents before on other planets. It's standard procedure to make sure we have them on board at all times now."

Muffled voices could be heard coming closer, and Chronica turned to go.

"Um, before you go, I have one more question," Vash said hurriedly and she turned back to him, her head cocked slightly to the side. His face suddenly felt extremely tight and hot from the blush that he knew had set his cheeks on fire, but there was no way he was not going to get the answer to this particular question. "Is it possible for us . . that is, can we be with . . . oh hell, canwehaverarelationshipwithahuman?" he finished in a rush. She blinked at him, and laughed again.

"I'm glad you find me entertaining," he muttered.

She shook her head, still laughing, and he felt a tug on their mental connection followed by a request to share a few memories with him. He cautiously agreed, and a few brief images flashed through his mind's eye. Chronica meeting a tall, thin young man with angular features, watching that man grow and mature as he climbed the ranks to Captain in the Federation Forces. Another memory of the same man, a little older in the face and sporting a thin mustache and goatee, awkwardly dancing with Chronica at the military ball, followed. The one that really interested him was a brief flash of what happened after the ball. It was only a kiss, but the emotions that came with it suggested that they had done more than that and even now were still lovers despite their differences and the fact that he was often baffled by her Plant abilities.

"He came here?" he asked, the unvoiced _he survived the battle_ left hanging in the air.

"Yes," she said simply. "And it's safe for you to allow yourself to care for the little insurance girl."

"But, isn't it hard knowing you'll outlive them?" he asked, fascinated at this chance to talk to someone as long lived as him that wasn't afraid to have a relationship with someone who could easily die tomorrow.

"No, because the Programming also allows us to regulate our age. Some Independents elect to live for hundreds of years so that they can continue to collect data and help further research in human/Plant relations, but others fall in love with someone and decide to adjust their life span to that of their partners. You, though, you're a special case because all of your power is almost used up. Without the limiter, you'd probably only have about another year to live, but with the limiter helping to keep you from unnecessarily using your power, you should be able to stretch your lifespan to that of an average human or a little longer should you desire." She gave him a half smile. "So allow yourself to care, Vash the Stampede."

The door at the end of the hallway opened, and the same distinguished man he had seen in Chronica's memories entered with Meryl at his side. Meryl's very angry voice filled the area as she argued passionately about how he was needed to foster good will and peace between humans and Plants, especially since some of his sister's were having trouble separating from the fused entity that Knives had created.

Vash's lips quirked up in an amused grin. His little insurance girl was quite the firecracker, and he was glad to see that in the six months since the fight at Octovern that hadn't changed. He vaguely wondered where Millie was, but got his answer when Chronica informed him over their link that only one civilian visitor was allowed in at a time. He watched closely as Meryl came closer, and saw the softening of the Captain's face as he smiled at Chronica, and she smiled back before she gently disengaged from their mental connection.

"Captain," she said, and he nodded at her. "He has agreed to the procedure, and I would like to assemble the scientific team ASAP."

He nodded and they both turned to go, leaving an embarrassed and fidgety Vash with a confused and irate Meryl. He pinched his lips together when she turned those beautiful lavender (and temper filled, he realized with a wince) eyes on him. She opened her mouth, closed it, then furrowed her brows. He raised an eyebrow at her as the staring match continued.

"Hey," he said softly in an effort to break the rising tension, and her shoulders relaxed. He climbed to his feet and approached the bars again, drawing in a deep breath as her subtle scent of warmth and lavender reached out to him.

"What procedure are they talking about?" she demanded. Typical Meryl, screw the usual small chatter pleasantries and cut right to the meat of the subject.

"Um," he said and rubbed the back of his neck. She knew him too well, though, and glared at his oh so familiar stalling tactics, so he sighed and told her everything Chronica had shared with him about the procedure.

"I'll be there, too," she announced, and he gaped at her. "Don't give me that look, you need someone in that room that will have your back. With all the chaos still going on about the Federation taking over peace keeping and the lingering fear from the loss of the Plants, all it would take would be one deliberate slip and I - _we'd_ lose you."

"What will you do, interview them into submission?" he asked, and couldn't prevent the grin at the mental image of Meryl standing with her microphone shoved in the face of the lead surgeon and badgering him to make sure he did a good job before switching to asking Vash how he felt and how he thought it was going.

She gave him a dirty look, folded her arms across her chest and huffed in irritation. "It would make a great story," she finally admitted, and he smirked at her.

"I never thought I'd see the day you'd trade in your Derringers," he mused, and she blinked at him.

"Oh, I didn't," she said, and pulled open her cloak to reveal the small guns once again nestled in their holsters and no sign of those microphones.

"But I thought," he trailed off, and she grinned at him. He stared. It had been a long time since he'd seen that grin, full of mischief, determination, and a lot of sass.

"That was something Millie and I came up with while we were hunting for you," she said. "She made a comment shortly after we changed careers about wondering what you would think if I replaced my Derringers with microphones, and the idea kind of stuck. I've had the extras in my luggage, and when we finally got the hard lead on where you were from one of our Federation contacts, I switched the guns out. Though it has been handy having so many extras on me, for some reason they keep breaking over other people's heads."

Vash snorted a laugh, not surprised that Meryl's volatile nature had resulted in several introductions of her new found vocation to other people's noggins. He supposed he should be thankful it hadn't happened to him. _Yet_.

"Besides, it's just not safe for a young woman to wander this planet without a little protection. Millie still has her stun gun, too, she just keeps it under her over sized coat and out of the way of the camera."

"What made you decide to go into journalism?" he asked, curious.

"Well, Bernadelli no longer exists, and we needed something to do. NMLB somehow got ahold of the reports I had written and filed while we were assigned to you and contacted me saying how they were impressed with my writing and investigation skills, and wanted to know if I'd be interested in a job. I said it was a package deal and that Millie had to be my camerawoman, and they agreed. Shortly after we joined up we were sent out to cover your story, and here we are."

"It's been a lot of fun, sempai!" Millie's voice floated in from the lone window, and Vashed quickly moved over to hoist himself up so he could peer out. Millie leaned against the wall just underneath the window, and gave him her usual bright, cheerful smile when she saw him.

"What are you doing down there, Big Girl?" he asked, and she waved.

"Enjoying the night air while you and sempai talk," she replied. "The soldiers have been extremely kind." Right as she finished speaking, a young cadet materialized out of the darkness. His cheeks were stained a painful red as he handed the large girl a cup of fresh pudding. She gave a cry of delight and quickly dove in, and Vash withdrew to give her some privacy.

"One of the soldiers flirting with her?" Meryl asked wryly.

"Yeah, fresh pudding and all," Vash replied, and she shook her head. "What brings you here, Meryl?"

She blinked, surprised by the question, then looked thoughtful. "I could say it's my job, and it sort of is. You've been my responsibility since I was first assigned to you, but it's also so unfair that you've been locked up when all you did was fight for us. You should be seen as a hero, not a villain, and I want to make sure the Federation, not to mention the whole world, knows about it. And I missed you," she mumbled the last part, and if he hadn't had such keen hearing he wouldn't have understood a single word.

"I missed you, too, Insurance Girl," he said earnestly, only to have a microphone suddenly crack over his head.

"We're not insurance girls anymore, Vash," she growled, and he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I know, but that's what you were when we first met, and first impressions always last the longest. Besides, I like it."

She shook her head, but gave him a fond smile, her eyes soft and warm and he found that if he stared hard enough he ran the chance of losing himself in them completely. What right did he have to ask this beautiful, young, _vibrant_ woman to stay with him? He wasn't a walk in the park, and he doubted that he'd ever be able to fully settle down in one place. He had been a nomad way too long, and danger still dogged his footsteps until the bounty was lifted from his head. Still, the more he rationalized the reasons behind leaving her, the more his memory threw up things that really couldn't ignore.

He remembered when she had been kidnapped and how he threw himself out of a window onto a Sand Worm in a desperate bid to get to the one who took her. He remembered how it had been her image that had saved him from giving into the yawning abyss that had opened up in front of him when he remembered the destruction of July. Her screaming that he was walking right into a trap, and how he didn't care, his only thought had been to get to her and get her out safely. Her voice as she called him back from the grave, though her words had been aimed towards someone else. She had seen his memories, she knew he wasn't human, he made her cry out of worry constantly, and yet she had stayed with him. He knew she had a strong work ethic, but she had gone _way_ beyond job loyalty to stay with him even after Bernadelli ceased to exist. He couldn't pinpoint when she had become so _important_ to him, but he knew the rest of his life would be lacking something major if she weren't by his side. Or chasing after him, he wasn't too picky.

_Allow yourself to care_, Chronica had said, and while a hundred and fifty years of pain and loneliness clawed at him to not take that chance, hope still bloomed strongly in his heart, and he dared to believe, just a little, that it could work out. That maybe, for once, he could be a little selfish and not have something blow up in his face.

"Vash?"

He blinked. He hadn't realized that Meryl had been speaking while he had been lost in his thoughts, and the focused on the worried look she gave him.

"Hmmm?"

"I asked where did you think you might go once the surgery is done and you're released? Without a bounty on your head," she growled that last part, and he laughed. Chronica and the others had no idea just what a formidable woman his Short Girl was, and he was going to enjoy watching her go toe to toe with them.

"I don't know. I figured I could head over towards August City. I think they're having some communication issue with the Plant Angels there, and I'd like to help if I can."

"You will," she said, conviction ringing through her words. "It's about time the world realized what a kind man you are underneath the Typhoon reputation. Even if things do have a tendency to blow up around you."

"Hey now," he said, indignant, "stuff only blows up around me because people are trying to catch me for the bounty. It's not _my_ fault they have bad aim!" As he finished he realized that she was grinning at him, and he flushed. _Suck it up and ask her! It's now or never!_

Meryl looked towards the door at the end of the hall, then turned back to him. He knew that their time to talk was coming at an end, and he fidgeted as his stomach flip-flopped so violently he thought he might be sick on the floor.

"Um, Meryl?" he asked, and fiddled with his fingers.

"Hmm?"

"Will you stay with me?" he finally asked quietly, and quickly added when she opened her mouth, "As more than a job or a story?"

Her mouth shut with a snap and she stared at him, shock written in every line of her tense body as her eyes widened to the point that they nearly took up half of her face. Realization quickly dawned, and her pale skin flushed a vibrant red as she looked down and bit her lip. He was preparing for the rejection he knew was coming when she finally looked up and met his eyes. He saw everything he needed to see and far more in her clear gaze as she nodded with a shy smile. He grinned back at her, his heart so full that he almost let out a whoop of joy, the only thing that held him back was her furtive look towards the door again. Someone was coming.

She looked back at him, then held the back of her knuckles up to her lips and kissed them. His heart ached at the gesture, and he kissed his own and reached through the bars so that they could press the two kisses together, but he wanted more. She squeaked in surprise as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer to the bars until her face pressed against him, and he shoved his own through the small opening on his side. Her breath caught as he managed to, just barely, graze her lips with his own, and he fought back a moan as an electric spark shot straight from his mouth down to his toes. They pulled away and his groan of desire changed to one of disappointment, but they had no time and the stupid bars were in the way.

He gently swiped his thumb over her lips, and they shared one last smile right as the door opened and Chronica entered with her Captain. Vash dropped his hand and retreated, but not before Meryl promised that she would be there for his procedure. He could hear her arguing with the two Federation soldiers about that as they escorted her from the cells, and his face split in a full, heartfelt smile.

"I'm glad you and sempai made up," Millie commented from her window. "We're going to have fun again!"

"That we will, Big Girl. That we will," he agreed.

###

A/N: Holy . . . . my first Trigun fic in almost ten years, and it's one that's been on the back of my mind for . . . a long, long while. Apologies if Chronica seemed to be a little (a LOT) OOC, but the way she mourned Domina had me believing that there was deep kindness in her, and faced with Vash's desperate loneliness, well, she had to open up a little. Plus she didn't get much airtime for us to really figure out her personality beyond driven and totally loyal to the Federation and Domina, so she's kind of free game.

I still can't believe I have another fanfic up. I'm so happy! Also, self-promotion time, but I have an original enovel out that you can get on Amazon (cheaper there), Barnes and Noble, etc. Just search for "Collide Kent". It's different from my usual work in that it's in first person, but I had a lot of fun writing it and I hope some people will have as much fun reading it since I'm technically over 60,000 words into Book Two.

Shameless self-promotion over. I hope you enjoyed my brief foray into the manga world of Trigun, I know I enjoy it every time I visit. As always, keep reading, and keep writing!


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